Increased Air Activity In the United Kingdom

he only aircraft I can think of that looks anything like a half-sized Concord is a Vulcan, but they were decomissioned years ago and only 1 is still
flying, paid for by a charitable fund.

I think, seeing as it is the Summer, alot of people will report increased military sightings as alot of air shows are held all over the Europe, let
alone the UK. I highly doubt there is any "war" build up. The US may be able to fund another War, but we can't and the people won't stomach it after
the Iraq debacle and ongoing op's in Afghanistan

Thank you very much for clearing the plane with no name, the Vulcan is exactly what I saw, same kinda camo paint that I remember. And also thank you
debunbking that part of my experiance.

Also, I do see where your coming from with the Air show theory however two things: 1; if what you say about as its summer time......etc..would if be
possible to find any threads on ATS like this one from say last summer? Or the summer before that? Evidence like that would blow this thread out of
the water! (Sorry OP but I'd like to know one way or the other haha) and 2; yes I admit, there is a local air field, I know they run daily flight for
small single civilian aircraft. The only time apart from what I've already said, that I've seen hi spec military craft was once, and that was a well
publicised event, even rthen it was just the one big plane, no jets or chinnooks, so I would of heard about there being another one.

I would like to add to all of the readers here, its 2:04am in the midlands, uk at the moment, and I have just been listening to a low flying
helicopter for around 10 minutes. Strange

have you thought it has anything to do with US and the china issue? and over in oregon in the great northwest ways away from the uk and the northeast
US there has been unusual activity to. Like 7 apaches flying in a group or 6 chinooks flying over. Where i live not usually alot of air traffic from
pdx, no military bases near by.

Last night at 12.40 am four large jets flew low over us about 1 min apart and on the exact same flight path heading North. This is very unusual and in
fact something which I have never seen before. Is it time to worry yet ?

I have just read your post and immediately thought back to last Tuesday 3rd August and Friday 6th August. As part of my job I sometimes have to go out
and take deliveries,on both occasions last week I saw military/unmarked aircraft not to far away from the North West.I live in Derbyshire and was
heading out towards Matlock on the Tuesday,basically in the middle of nowhere,no local army bases and saw three what I presumed to be Military
helicopters.They seemed to be unmarked but in a green khaki colour all over,the sun was glaring so I couldnt be 100 percent on them being unmarked.It
seemed very strange as we use that road quite frequently and ive never come across any before,especially not 3 flying in a triangle formation.Ive
looked at the local press and typed certain keywords into google to see if any displays were on locally or if any incidents had took place and come up
with nothing. The bizarre thing is that on the Friday I saw what I thought to be the same style and colour of helicopter,this time on its own over a
residential area in Mansfield,Notts. I know both these places are in the East Midlands but still only minutes flying time away from the North West,may
be linked,maybe nothing at all!!

I live near you and I saw those three helicopters as well.... I believe they were three merlins. I tend to get them over my home doing Very low
level.. The livestock nearby are always the first to be alerted by them and normally, if I'm home I'll nip out and catch them about 50 - 100 feet
above me.. Quite large helicopters and they make a distinctive sound..

A few weeks ago I had two Apaches - Army Air Corps helicopters come over.. they looked quite awesome.... could see the pilots and I'm sure one
acknowledged me.....

Thats really interesting to hear.So would you say that these helicopters flyby on a regular basis or its something that as started to happen recently?
Any ideas to motive or where there heading to or from? Im really glad someone else saw them as it seemed quite strange for the location! Also nice to
know Im not the only one nearby who has interest in the subject matter which appears on this forum!

The frequency is not that common but I'd say once a month or so tends to be the normal I think....

I've only seen Apaches twice and I have been here 3.5 years but I do see Merlins, Chinooks and the odd Puma helicopter...

Tend not to see fast jets but I have had the Red Arrows come over once or twice in a year, I normally think when they are transiting from base to an
Air show or training.. They normally come over in two flight of 4 and 5 aircraft at lowish level....

The best though is the Spitfire which normally comes over around August / September time.. I think it belongs to Rolls Royce but it maybe a private
owner..... I was told that when Rolls Royce have important visitors then they roll it out and it flys around Duffield and Belper area. That's where
I've seen it as well as where I am now, a little farther away..
Regards

I havent read the whole thread so if this has been posted before then forgive my laziness.

I have read here that many have seen apache helos hovering in urban areas. They will be practising urban warfare and electronically targetting you and
taking you out, practising for ops in an urban environment.. Hopefully abroad!.. Its a common way to trin these people before deployment.

Originally posted by Qwenn
Last night at 12.40 am four large jets flew low over us about 1 min apart and on the exact same flight path heading North. This is very unusual and in
fact something which I have never seen before. Is it time to worry yet ?

It would help a lot if you said where you are in the UK or World as most people don't bother filling in the LOCATION part on their profile!

Originally posted by Qwenn
Last night at 12.40 am four large jets flew low over us about 1 min apart and on the exact same flight path heading North. This is very unusual and in
fact something which I have never seen before. Is it time to worry yet ?

It would help a lot if you said where you are in the UK or World as most people don't bother filling in the LOCATION part on their profile!

About a week ago I saw 5 British Challenger 2 tanks being deported from Army barracks in Grantham onto the A1.

Also today I saw just a cockpit on the back of a truck not even covered up from a Eurofighter on it's way to RAF Grantham and saw the truck enter the
gates and drive straight through.

My best friend is in the RAF and I have never said anything or asked a question about his line of work, but about 3 weeks i said how is work treating
you like I normally do and this time he said something that will now make sense.

He said we have been put on training exercises and these are very intense constaintly for the next 2-4 weeks and then we have a briefing at the end to
see where we are going to be deployed. I take that with a pinch of salt, I really do as it could be to do with military cut backs in the UK because of
Cameron.

I don't know what is happening, but you have to take all of this with a pinch of salt and not worry.

Personally over the last month I have seen more activity in the sky than I have seen ever before.

Well I have been seeing a lot of "out of place" aircraft over the skies above me recently. Things like, The euro-fighter's, P51's, apaches, the
list goes on and on........However this is because there was an airshow just down the road from me.

But I will say I have noticed a lot of helicopters lately. Police ones, privite ones, military ones and of coarse the illusive "Blackcopters".

I'm further south but there's been a black helicopter (not saying it's unmarked, it's just black never get a good enough view to see if it's
unmarked, doubtful though) flying around where I live nearly every single week for the last month and a half or so. Strangely today everyone's phone
where I work lost signal for around 2 hours, just all dead.

I have recently returned from a uk wide family camping trip and although i can say i have noticed more than ususal raf sorties,what i have really
noticed is the recruitment drive on many of the local radio stations up and down the country for partime gunners?

I live in Marske by the Sea near Middlesbrough in North East England. Although I have been reading the board for a while, I joined up as to reply to
your topic.

I found it very strange recently as I have seen a lot of Military aircraft in the skies (helicopters and fighter jets). The latest being on Tueday
evening: A very large armoured helicopter followed closely by a chinook.

These helicopters were heading North East towards the sea, but they were flying very low over our estate? Hope this information helps.

I was driving between Las Vegas and Los Angeles on the Morning of July 26th and multiple long convoys of military vehicles (humvees, and transport
haulers) where coming south out of the Mojave desert to the Marine Corps Logistics Base outside of Barstow. At the base, there were rows and rows of
tanks and artillery being moved around.

I have been doing this drive every week since the end of June and have made the drive several times a month for the past year. I have never seen
these convoys before nor the tanks and artillery just behind the fences so close to the I-15 highway. It was a very out of the ordinary amount of
activity.

Nearest military air base=Marham; increased air activity about two weeks ago, jets and choppers. Now seems a little quieter than usual.

Not sure if this has been mentioned already but the President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari recent visit to UK after Cameron's 'We are not sure if
Pakistan isn't singing on both sides of the terrorism songsheet' speech/comments, a President viewed by some in his own country as nothing but a
criminal.

Increased military or police air traffic is common when some foreign dignitaries visit.

This content community relies on user-generated content from our member contributors. The opinions of our members are not those of site ownership who maintains strict editorial agnosticism and simply provides a collaborative venue for free expression.